Asmalı Mescit Dürümcü — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

BEWARE OF FAKE REVIEWS FOR THIS PLACE

SUMMARY IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ ALL:

Bad service Ruined my sweater spilling yogurt over it Refused to give discount Started posting fake reviews after our 1-star reviews Bonus: hair in my food

Sorry for the lengthy review, I usually do not write anything about places I’ve been to unless they were really good or really bad and, unfortunately, this place was REALLY BAD and it ruined my evening.

I will not dwell too much into commenting the food, which was just average, what really angered me was the service. It started with the waiters sitting us inside right in front of the doorway in an extremely crowded restaurant, to them being clueless when we asked for glasses to drink water from, to the whole situation culminating when one of them tripped and spilled a whole glass of Kefir Yogurt on my sweater - I know mistakes happen every once in a while, but the spill itself wasn’t the problem, the attitude was.

The dude didn’t even bother apologise, instead he just laughed at me and simply brought a few tissues without saying a word. We demanded a discount for the damage, since I now have to dry clean my sweater and pay for it on top of the already-not-so-cheap bill, but they refused no matter how we insisted. They kept insisting, however, that they would bring my sweater downstairs to the kitchen area to dry clean it themselves (still wondering now how that would’ve been possible).

In another context I would have just forgotten about all this because people make mistakes, but their attitude and their refusal to give any kind of compensation for what happened is what’s pushing me to write this review.

I know they probably don’t care, because their main targets are tourists and as long as one is out, one comes in anyway, but out of principle I just want to warn everyone out there about the rude and entitled attitude the WHOLE STAFF had towards me and my group of friends.

Also, as soon as my friends started leaving one star reviews, one of their staff member came at us bashing at us saying we were lying in bed the ratings.

It’s no surprise that only 10 minutes after our reviews were posted, about 3 or 4 suspiciously positive ones came out (clearly by the staff themselves or friends of the staff) saying how great everything was.

Ah, forgot to mention that I also found a hair in my kebab.

Please avoid...

We only eat chicken, and we worried that the only good things on restaurant menus were going to be beef and mutton. How wrong we were! At Asmalimescit Dürümcü, you HAVE to try their chicken shish, especially on a bed of eggplant! I believe it was called "tavuk şiş patlican porsiyon" – meaning to say, a full meal with tomatoes and bread. The muhammara (ground walnuts with pomegranate molasses) was also excellent! Get the meze platter and choose 4 starters to try – you won't regret it. For a first night find in Istanbul, this restaurant set the standards very high for the rest of our trip, and we were so glad to have found this place. The staff was kind, patient with our questions and the language barrier, and most generous with their time. What a lovely first dining...

My friend and I ordered the hummus and the mixed kebab with eggplant, and it was the best meal we had in Istanbul by far! Also the best kebab I’ve had. The durum wrap was filled with juicy meat in every bite and the wrap itself was tasty and thin, and just all around complemented everything. Hummus was also tasty with plenty of olive oil and fresh tomatoes for texture. We also had the original soda based on a recommendation and it didn’t disappoint. My friend and I shared a 1.5 plus starter and it was enough for us, but if you’re hungry a whole one to yourself is better. On top of this, complimentary tea and small dessert. Honestly an amazing experience and I can’t recommend this place more! We even tried to go back a second time but it was sadly closed...